AcceleRacers: Firebirds
by Aysinia
Summary: AU! The Firebirds are renowned for their clean racing and fun personalities. So what would happen if Dr. Tezla recruited them to race alongside their rivals, the TEKU, and Metal Maniacs? You'll have to read to find out!
1. Character Profiles

**Hot Wheels Accele-Racers: Firebirds **

**Disclaimer: **The only things I own are The Firebird Racers, Ecliptic, Hydroplane, Crosswire, Fire Phoenix, and that's about it. So please don't steal—that would make me mad—and please review! That would make me happy…

**Aysinia: **Yeah, yeah, I know this plot has been used a lot but you gotta admit that it's a good plot idea! I just couldn't resist! So I hope you like my version of AcceleRacers!

**Character Profiles: The Firebird Racers**

_The team drives Fire Phoenix, their motorcycle_

**Annastasia 'Anna' Christiansen  
**Leader of The Roadbeasts during The World Race; Founder and Leader of The Firebirds  
19 in The World Race; 22 later  
5 foot 7 inches tall  
145 pounds  
Emerald Green Eyes  
Wavy Mahogany Red hair that goes to the middle of her back  
Drives Ballistik (World Race Car) and Ecliptic  
Racer; Champion motocross racer (She drives down some of the toughest mountains in the world).

Anna is the life of the team. She is a fierce friend and a loyal leader. She stays levelheaded through any crisis. She lives life to the fullest and takes the good, the bad, and yes, the ugly for what they are. She never holds a grudge against anyone and would rather not live in the things of the past. Her spunkiness, sharp tongue and fun loving personality can get her into trouble but she refuses to give up and will do anything she deems necessary to protect her friends and family.

Anna's racing suit for the Firebirds consists of a pair of black denim jeans with a vertical flame design going down the outside of each leg, a long sleeved crimson red shirt, a black tank top over that with 'Firebird' on the back in crimson red, black tennis shoes, white ankle socks, and a pair of dark blue sunglasses.

Daren—Father  
Arielle—Mother

**Kiya Kendalson  
**Member of the Roadbeasts during the World Race; Later becomes a member of The Firebirds  
18 in The World Race; 21 later  
4 feet 9 inches tall  
110 pounds  
Midnight Blue Eyes  
Curly tipped sandy blonde hair to goes to her shoulders  
Drives Vulture (World Race Car)  
Racer; Champion archer (Few know about this; she just does it for fun though and doesn't boast about it).

Kiya is the joker of the team. She does pull the occasional prank but nothing too bad. She always tries to lighten up the situation with a joke or a smile. She always has a smile on her face even when she's not so happy. Despite her playful nature, she's not afraid to tell it how it is.

Kiya's Firebird racing suit consists of a pair of black denim jeans with a small phoenix in flight on each hip where the pockets are, a short sleeved crimson red t-shirt with 'Firebird' on the front across the chest, black tennis shoes, white ankle socks, a yellow bandanna that she wears in remembrance of her brother, and a diamond cross necklace on a gold chain that was given to her by her brother the day before he died.

Kevin—Father  
Geraldine—Mother  
Karvo—Older Brother (Deceased)

**Michaela 'Mika' Nickelcreek  
**Member of The Roadbeasts during The World Race; Co-Leader of The Firebirds  
18 in The World Race; 21 later  
5 feet 4 inches tall  
130 pounds  
Chocolate Brown Eyes  
Extremely curly Chocolate Brown Hair that goes to the bottom of her shoulder blades  
Drives Power Pistons (World Race Car)  
Racer; Black belt in karate

Mika is the voice of reason. She always tries to break up fights and arguments. She's a perfectionist and pushes herself, her car, and others to the very limits. She is most like Karma in Accele-Racers.

Mika's suit for The Firebirds consists of a pair of black denim jeans with a spiraling flame design going around the right leg, short sleeved yellow t-shirt, a black jacket with 'Firebird' on the back in yellow, black tennis shoes, and white ankle socks.

Davis—Father  
Kerrey—Mother**  
**

**Alexander 'Alex' Harrison  
**He's only a member of The Firebirds  
20 years old  
5 feet 10 inches tall  
160 pounds  
Hazel Eyes  
Jet Black hair that goes to his ear lobes that stays messy no matter what he does to it  
Drives Hydroplane  
Racer

Alex is a very shy guy who never talks unless he has too. He's always willing to lend a hand but oftentimes he stays to himself. He often talks with his face and only his friends can fully understand his facial expressions.

Alex's driving suit consists of a pair of black denim jeans, a black short sleeved shirt (Muscle shirt-ish) with 'Firebird' on the front in red and a sprawling phoenix in flight on the back.

Freddy—Father (Uninvolved)  
Laney—Mother

**Chad Wisse  
**He's only a member of The Firebirds and he's the team's mechanic  
20 years old  
6 feet tall  
170 pounds  
Ice Blue Eyes  
Spiky Bleach Blonde hair that goes to his ear lobes  
Drives Crosswire  
Racer

Chad may look intimidating but he's really sweet. He will stand up against anyone who goes against what he thinks is right. He is a bit hot tempered but he'll do anything to protect his friends and family.

Chad's suit consists of a pair of black denim jeans, a short sleeved crimson red t-shirt, a black leather jacket with 'Firebird' on the back in red, black tennis shoes, and white ankle socks.

Justin—Father (Abusive)  
Christine—Mother

**Aysinia: **So what do these people have to do with the racing realms? The Accelechargers? You'll just have to wait and see!


	2. How It All Began

**Hot Wheels Accele-Racers: Firebirds**

**Disclaimer: **In with the Character Info. Ya know having to write it at the beginning of every chapter would get old after a while so that's my line. In with the profiles. In with the profiles. Darn I sound like a stupid parrot…oh well…it's in with the character profiles!

**Aysinia: **Thanks to brave kid and august child for encouraging me! I appreciated it. It kept me going! Now onto the story! Sorry if the beginning is cheesy. I'm not that great at starting stories so this has been torturing me for the last two weeks so I'm just throwing something out here!

**Chapter One: How It All Began**

It's the dead of night; the moon illuminated all that was beneath it. Its race night at the canyon in Southern California: The Firebirds vs. The TEKU Racers. The racers are ready and so are their cars. They're just waiting for the all clear from their friends before they start. None of them wanted to get caught by the police.

22-year-old Firebird Racer Annastasia Christiansen waits anxiously by her racecar, Ballistik. She looks over at her friends, Kiya Kendalson and Michaela Nickelcreek, and then at her competition, 23-year-old TEKU Racer Kurt Wylde and his teammates, Vert Wheeler and Karma Eiss. Kurt and his friends surround his sporty Slingshot racecar and talk amongst themselves. Both of their cars, along with Vulture, Power Pistons, and Deora II, were souvenirs from the exhilarating World Race just three short years ago.

The girl is so deep in thought that she doesn't hear someone calling her by her childhood nickname, "Anna…Anna…ANNA!" Anna gasps as leaps backwards almost falling on her butt. Her friends were at both of her sides. Anna sighs as she realizes who it was.

"Anna are you all right?" Kiya cocks her head questioningly.

"Geez, give me a heart attack why don'tcha?" Anna replies sourly as she tries to shake off getting scared.

"We were just calling ya back to planet Earth." Mika retorts, playfully punching Anna's shoulder.

"Funny." Anna sticks her tongue out at her other friend. Mika sticks her tongue out back at Anna. Kiya has to cover her mouth to suppress a bout of laughter. Those two are such dorks. Then as Anna glances over at Kurt and his friends and realizes that she still has a race to compete in, her demeanor suddenly turns very serious,

"Have we gotten the all clear from Jake yet?" Anna asks referring to the team's best friend.

"Um…not yet." Mika replies as she simply shrugs her shoulders. "Wonder what's taking him so long?"

"You know how the cops are." Anna smirks, shaking her head nonchalantly while twirling a strand of her dark red hair around her finger. "They know street races happen so they search the city areas like a fine tooth comb." She groans sourly. The cops were really starting to get on her nerves.

"Well, what about Chad and Alex?" Kiya asks worriedly as she looks at Anna. "They're at the Coast Roads watching the showdown race between Nolo and Tork along with several others."

"Shoot the Coast Roads?" Anna waves her hand as she sees Kurt walking towards them. She rolls her eyes as she sees him throw his hands up in the air and walk away to his car. Anna then turns back to Kiya and Mika. "Nolo and Tork were smart. They picked the most remote location in the county! The cops only check that place once of twice unlike the city where they check like a million times."

"Aw, they're just worried about the people." Mika tries to find a reasonable explanation; that was the only thing that came to her mind, "They think we're all reckless and they don't want anyone to get hurt or worse (Kiya nods solemnly). They take one racer's personality and pin it to all racers, which ain't cool, but they're just doin' their jobs."

"So are we gonna talk all night or race?" Kurt asks sourly as he looks at the watch around his wrist. The race was supposed to start a half hour ago! He didn't know what was taking so long and he was beginning to get very impatient.

"We will…once we get the all clear, which we haven't gotten yet." Anna replies as she rolls her eyes yet again; she too was getting incredibly impatient with her friends. She thinks about calling off the race, but that would just give her and her team a bad reputation. The Firebirds never backed out from a race before and Anna wasn't keen on starting now.

Suddenly Kiya yelps as she feels a vibration coming from the back pocket of her jeans. "Yow my butt's vibrating!" She yelps, grabbing the cell phone from her back pocket. She quickly answers it, "Hello?"

"_Hey Kiya, it's me Jake."_ the man replies hurriedly, _"Sorry about the wait, but I got caught by the cops and heavily questioned. They released me about ten minutes ago."_

"Que hay de la carrera?!" (What about the race?!) Kiya blurts out incredulously in Spanish. Since taking it in high school, she had a tendency to speak out in Spanish when surprised or angered, "Are you kidding me?!" She looks over at Anna and Kurt; boy this was turning out to be a _very _long night. Both of them are incredibly competitive and calling off the race would be a huge blow to their prides especially Kurt's.

"_Hey don't worry about it."_ Jake reassures her calmly, _"They don't have a clue. I just told them that I was waiting for my girlfriend and that we were taking a midnight stroll through the trails. He bought it hook, line, and sinker. So ya'll got the all clear from us and tell Anna to do us a favor and win OK?"_

"Sure thing Jake and thanks." Kiya chuckles as she puts the device back in her pocket. She turns around and looks at the others a smile on her face, "All right racers to the starting line!" The two teams broke into cheers as the racers finally got ready for the race.

"Go get 'em tiger." Kiya encourages Anna as she gets into her car. Anna shakes her head excitedly as she gives Kiya a big thumbs up.

"Kurt may have won during the World Race, but this time he's goin' down." Anna replies excitedly as she starts her car. The powerful V8 engine is music to the girl's ears as the sound echoes throughout the canyon. She looks over and smirks as she hears Vert and Karma encouraging their teammate as he got into his car. She can hear Kiya grumbling and moaning as she tries to get the starting box to work. That's odd; it was working about an hour ago. Oh well, that technology for you. She then notices that Mika doesn't appear to be all that happy.

"Hey Mika what's wrong girl?" Anna looks more then a bit worried as her friend approaches the car.

"I'm having second thoughts about this race Anna." Mika crosses her arms as she looks over at Kurt. Before Anna could protest she adds, "I mean the dude almost gets all of us killed during the World Race not to mention, he—"

"Don't go there." Anna growls lowly, her emerald green eyes glaring daggers into Mika's chocolate brown eyes, "We both agreed _never_ to mention that again."

"Hey, I'm just trying to think about all the possibilities." Mika huffs angrily; she was getting extremely agitated with her friend's nonchalant attitude, "Anyway what makes you think he's not gonna resort back to sabotage?"

Anna sighs heavily as she clenches her hands around the steering wheel; she too was getting rather angry, "Just what are you trying to say? Look, I never thought for a single second that Kurt meant for anyone to get intentionally hurt during the World Race and what happened afterwards is in the past. I don't hold a grudge and I don't let my feelings cloud my judgment."

"Yeah, but—"

"No estoy en apoyo de esta carrera sólo porque quieres que!" (I'm not backing down from this race just because you want me to!) Anna yells out angrily. Her voice got everyone's attention and all eyes were on her and Mika. Mika sighs as she throws her hands up in defeat.

"Estoy buscando a cabo para usted," (I'm just looking out for ya,) She whispers into Anna's ear as she walks away, "but you're the leader so it's your call." She scoffs sarcastically as she walks back to her car. She leans up against the hood and crosses her arms, glaring at Kurt. Kurt flinches; he knows what they were arguing about. He just turns away and keeps his eyes on his steering wheel.

"Hey what was that all about?" Kiya walks up to Anna curiously. She had heard Anna and Mika argue before, but it was never quite that intense before.

"I don't wanna talk about it." Anna's voice seems to be on the verge of breaking. It looks as though Anna is about ready to cry. Kiya just backs away, giving her friend a bit of space.

"I can respect that." She replies cautiously as she backs away. Gee, that had to have been some argument for Anna to act like that, "Just wanted to tell ya that I got the box working again and Kurt's ready whenever you are."

"Right." Anna shifts gears and slowly moves her car in position parallel to Kurt's car. She looks over at Kurt and gives him a weak nod before looking forward. She sees that Kiya got the starting box working and now a dark red light illuminates the night sky alongside the moon.

"Racers are we ready?" Kiya has to shout to be heard over the cars' engines. She looks over at Anna who gently shakes her head then at Kurt who gives her a weak smile. Kiya gently kicks the staring box; the red light turns a brilliant yellow color as everyone gets even more excited and anxious, "Get set… GO!"

Anna and Kurt put the pedal to the metal as the light to the starting box turns green. Kiya cheers as Ballistik and Slingshot go flying past her.

"And the race is on!" Kiya whoops as she resets the starting box. This time is cooperates with her and the light turns a fiery orange-red. The perfect finish line in Kiya's opinion. She walks over to her racecar and leans against the hood. Now all they had to do is wait and see who won.

"Oh, it's on now." Vert yelps excitedly, "Those guys aren't gonna give up." He smirks as he walks towards his car and also leans against the hood.

"Yeah, its gonna be a tight race to the finish." Mika replies as she walks over towards Kiya. The younger girl looks over at Mika cautiously, but relaxes as she sees her smile. Mika just shakes her head. Anna was a stubborn as a mule and there was no arguing with her. Might as well sit back and enjoy the race.

Kiya turns around as she hears something approaching them. She squints her eyes and can just make out the headlights of a vehicle…but not just one, three vehicles were coming their way. Kiya's eyes widen in surprise as she turns to the others. Mika can see the apparent shock on her friend's face.

"Kiya, lo que le pasa?" (Kiya, what wrong?) Mika puts a hand on Kiya's shoulder as the girl takes a gulp to shallow the lump in her throat. Her mind was racing, no pun intended.

"There's somebody coming." Kiya replies nervously as everyone else turned towards the sound. The engines were now loud enough for everyone to hear, "There's three vehicles coming this way…but we didn't invite anybody else to the race. What if somebody ratted us out? There'd be no way to warn Kurt and Anna in time. I—" She stops talking as she hears a new sound come into hearing range. It was a high pitched whistle, but it wasn't a human whistle. No, it was far too high pitched to be coming from a person. That meant if it was coming from a vehicle, then it had to be…them.

"Oh no." Kiya groans audibly as she slaps her hand against her forehead, face visibly flushed. She can't believe that she got so worked up over nothing.

"Is that a good 'oh no' or a bad one?" Vert asks, not sure if he even wants to know the answer.

"It all depends on what you think about Kurt's brother and his friends." Kiya replies nonchalantly as she shrugs her shoulders. Vert glares at her quizzically as he groans loudly. The Metal Maniacs? Oh, why now?

"Wylde better not ruin the race like he did last time." Mika snorts angrily as she glares out at the incoming vehicles. Suddenly a black, red, and white car goes flying past everyone and into the distance. The other two rough and tumble cars stop next to Power Piston. Then Taro and Monkey got out of their respective cars: a '70s Road Runner and Rollin' Thunder.

Mika growls as she shakes her head, glaring at the two Metal Maniacs. "What are you guys doin' here?" She asks with more then a little hint of anger and annoyance in her voice.

"Ask Wylde." Taro replies just as calm as he always is. Mika's facial expression changes as she looks down the road. She could only hope that Wylde wouldn't do something brash that would put Kurt and Anna in danger.

_**-To be Continued-**_

**Aysinia: **So this is it, the first chapter. So what is Wylde up to? Are Kurt and Anna safe? Is anyone safe? You'll have to wait til the next chapter to see!


	3. The Meeting

**Hot Wheels Accele-Racers: Firebirds**

**Disclaimer: **Once again, I don't own Accele-Racers. If I did, the sequel to the Ultimate Race would have been out like 6 months ago! Anyway… let's move on shall we?

**Aysinia: **Yes, I finally updated people! Sorry for the long wait. Thanks to all the reviewers out there…again! Reviews encourage me to continue writing. So thanks once again! And a quick thanks to BraveKid for helping! Major kudos! And keep the reviews coming!

**Chapter Two: The Meeting**

Anna and Kurt unaware of the trouble that was heading their way continue to race drafting behind each other to gain speed; Anna was about ten feet behind Kurt. Neither one of them had any idea on what was coming their way.

"There must be some way to get past him." Anna whispers to herself as she looks around for some other road to take. It was then she notices a fork in the road ahead on her GPS unit. There were three different directions: left, right, and straight ahead. She flicks her finger over a few buttons on her dashboard; she hears static as the antennae on her car tries to hone in on Kurt's radio signal. After a few seconds, the reception was crystal clear; Anna now had a two way radio between her car and Kurt's.

"Hey listen, there's a fork in the road up ahead." She says quickly as she races down the straight road, "I just went down the straight road. How about you? What road did you take?"

"Yeah I knew about the fork. And by the way, I took the right hand road. I'm thinkin' that maybe I'll get lucky." Kurt replies as he goes down the barren cannon road. Then he starts to get an uneasy feeling in his gut as he drives down the road.

"You'll need more then that to beat me." Anna smirks slyly as she laughs. Severing the connection, Anna chuckles as she leaves Kurt to his own thoughts. She then starts to feel the sort of feeling she gets when someone's watching her. You know that feeling of uneasiness and fear that slowly creeps into your mind and starts messing with you.

Anna shudders as she shakes the feeling off and suddenly curses as she serves to miss the canyon wall. Just her luck, she picks the worst side of the three way fork to go down! Sharp turns and sudden drops in the cliffside made it extremely dangerous. Oh well, there was no turning back now. The girl groans in determination as she forces her car into a 90 degree turn and then drives down a straightaway.

Anna drives down the straight passageway. The pitch blackness is cut open by her headlights like a knife slices through butter. She turns her head to the left sharply as she could have sworn she had seen another car pass by.

"You need to calm down Anna." She starts to talk to herself in an effort to calm herself. "It's dark. You're just seeing things. You have to focus. You have to beat Kurt. You—AHH!" Her self pep talk was suddenly and abruptly interrupted as something or rather someone slams into the back of her car with such intensity that the back tires were thrown up a few inches into the air. Anna looks in her rearview and realizes that she wasn't seeing things after all.

"Markie." Anna gasps as she tries to hone in on Spine Buster's radio signal. She then hears the familiar static signal telling her that she could now talk to Wylde. Not that talking would do any good. Markie was a few cards short of a full deck. Anna gasps loudly as the back of her car swerves towards the cliff edge. Anna wrenches the steering wheel in an effort to get all four wheels back on solid ground.

"Markie what the he—what are you doing man?" Anna yells into the radio as she fights to keep her car from spinning widely out of control. She retaliates by slamming into the side of the bigger car. It didn't have much of an effect though. Her car was just too small and Wylde's car was just too rugged. "You're gonna run me off the cliff!" She yelps shrilly as her car clips the side of one of the columns.

"No one gets to race Kurt except for me!" Wylde growls savagely as he rams into the back half of Ballistik. Anna gasps as she begins to spin out of control. Wylde just laughs as he watches Anna slam sideways into one of the tall pillars. Anna growls angrily as she slams her fist into the dashboard in frustration. This was the second time in less then a month that Wylde had ruined a race between her and Kurt. As a matter of fact, this was the rematch of the first race!

"Kurt, Kurt can you hear me?" Anna begins to panic as she flips switch after switch, trying to warn Kurt about his brother. "Kurt!"

It was fifteen agonizing seconds before Kurt's voice came over the radio speaker. "Anna what's wrong? Are you all right?" He was clearly concerned by the apparent panic in Anna's tone.

"It's your brother!" Anna replies hurriedly as she desperately tries to get her car started but the engine has stalled leaving her stranded in the middle of the canyon. "He just ran me off the road and he's going after you now!"

"Aw man!" Kurt groans unhappily as he shakes his head in disgust. His brother just couldn't leave well enough alone. "I'll handle this. You sure you're all right?"

"I'm still in one piece. My engine's stalled but I'll get it working again." Anna replies as she begins to climb over the back of the driver seat. She suddenly turns her attention back to the radio. "Kurt sólo ten cuidado ahí fuera! Eres hermano no pensar recto!" (Kurt just be careful out there! You're brother's not thinking straight!)

"I'll be fine." Kurt sighs; he defiantly needs to remind Anna to speak in English only please? His mind can't remember all of those Spanish classes in high school! That was ages ago it seems like! And besides, he didn't need Anna to tell him that his brother was crazy. He knew _that_! He looks in his rearview and not seeing anything continues to drive. Anna hears the radio connection as it flickers off leaving her to herself.

Anna then immediately dives back over the driver's seat and begins to rummage through the junk in the back seat. It has to be around here somewhere! Aha! She found it, her cell phone. She opens it and quickly dials Kiya's number. "Please, please, oh please have your cell phone on." Anna pleads as the phone begins to ring.

Meanwhile at the finish line, Kiya and Mika are getting increasingly worried. Something just wasn't right here. The Metal Maniacs' sudden appearance always seems to throw a monkey wrench into the works, especially Wylde. He was a loose cannon who just didn't know when to quit while he was ahead. Mika keeps pacing back and forth from her car to Kiya's and back again, which just made the girls even more nervous.

"Don't you think we should go after them?" Kiya asks worriedly as she looks up at the moon. The slivery rays make her dark eyes glow beautifully.

"Yeah I—" Mika starts but was soon interrupted when Kiya's phone starts to ring. Kiya groans angrily as she picks up the device. Why now? They were in a crisis here!

"Hello." Kiya pipes up excitedly. She tries not to let on something was happening in case it was someone important!

"_Stop acting Kiya, it's me."_ The girl lets out a big sigh of relief as she hears Anna's voice. She didn't know what was happening but at least Anna was all right …hopefully…maybe…aw man!

"Anna are you all right?" Kiya asks fearfully. She motions for Mika to come over and puts the phone in between them so that they can both hear. Vert and Karma look at them in confusion before going back to their conversation but they kept an ear open just in case.

"_No."_ Anna snaps causing both her teammates to jerk back in surprise. _"Wylde just rushed me off the road and my engine's stalled. Now he's going after Kurt." _

"What?" Kiya couldn't help but yell causing Vert and Karma to turn their heads back towards her and Anna to jerk the phone away from her ears. "Again? You gotta be kiddin' me!" Mika looks at her friend in confusion as Kiya wrenched the phone back to her ear. Now even Mika was even left out of the loop.

"_No I'm not."_ Anna retorts sharply, making Kiya flinch. She hadn't heard Anna this frustrated in a while. _"He rushed me off the road and now my engine's stalled. Listen the crash wasn't that bad and my GPS System is still working. Now follow the signal and get me outta here!"_ She yelps nervously. Being out here alone was beginning to make her very nervous.

"Got it." Kiya replies only to hear the dial tone. Huh, Anna must have hung up. She turns her phone off. "Come on Mika. We gotta go."

"Whoa now wait a minute!" Mika protests violently as she follows Kiya to her car. "I'm not sure what just happened here!"

"Wylde rushed Anna off the road and now she's stranded." Kiya replies grimly as she lowers her head. That way no one can see her flushed with anger. Oh, she just couldn't stand that guy!

"We're going with you." Karma says matter-of-factly as she and Vert climb into their cars. "Kurt's one of us. We have to make sure he's all right." Vert nods in agreement as he slides into the driver seat of his car.

"Sure come along. It really doesn't matter to me." Mika nods nonchalantly as she walks to Kiya's car. She sticks her head in the driver window to get Kiya's attention "Hey we gotta hurry. I get the feeling that something's not quite right around here."

"I know so do I." Kiya shifts in the seat anxiously. "Let's just get out there before someone gets hurt." Mika nods in agreement as she goes to her car and gets inside. Then Vulture, Power Pistons, Chicane, and Deora II go racing off into the canyon mazes leaving Monkey and Taro behind.

"Guess we better go and stop Wylde huh Taro?" Monkey asks nonchalantly as he gets into his SUV. He peaks out the window to see if Taro even heard him.

"Hmm…" Taro just shook his head as he gets into his car and rides away leaving Monkey behind. Monkey gasps as he realizes that he was left behind and speeds after him. None of them realized that their lives were about to be turned upside-down once again.

Kurt raced through the canyons looking for some sign of someone, anyone! Anna, Mika and Kiya, Vert and Karma, heck even Markie! The labyrinth-like roads and thick darkness had him hopelessly lost and completely confused. He didn't know which way was up, down, left, right, or any other way in this stupid place. Just whose idea it was to have a race out here to begin with…oh yeah it was _his_ idea.

Suddenly a shimmer of light reflected off of his rearview mirror. Kurt squinted, trying to figure out what it was when his car swerved off to the side violently. He quickly got Slingshot back under control and cursed under his breath. It was the all too familiar car that he was beginning to hate: Spine Buster.

"Back off little brother!" Kurt yelled out, ramming his car into the side of his brother's car in an effort to rush _him_ off the road.

"You're gonna race me!" Wylde _told_ Kurt or rather demanded him. The two cars were slamming into one another in an effort to knock the other off the road. It didn't work. Neither one of the brothers could knock the other off balance.

"_Oh here we go again."_ Kurt thought as he groaned inwardly. His brother just _could not_ let it go could he? Then out of the corner of his eyes, Kurt saw something else shimmering off of his side mirror. "Oh what now?" Kurt groaned as he rolled his eyes. Could anything else go wrong today? Then he saw it: something in the middle of the road! "Whoa!" Kurt yelled out in surprise as he slammed on his brakes to avoid hitting whatever it was that was stupid enough to stand in the middle of a road!

Wylde wrenched his steering wheel and his car swerved to the side violently as he tried to avoid slamming into the side of Kurt's car. How ironic... Anyway, Slingshot came to a halt just in front of the unidentified, now classified stupid thing and Spine Buster gently slammed into the side of the pillar. Both cars were hardly even scratched and neither driver was hurt.

Kurt let out a big sigh as he saw Markie get out of his car. It was a relief to know that he was all right. Kurt looked back behind him as he heard something coming. He sighed in relief as he saw Ballistik—Anna must have gotten her car started again—, Vulture, Power Pistons, Deora II, and Chicane, but scowled as he saw Taro's Road Runner and Rollin' Thunder. Aw, what were _they_ doing here?

Anna saw what the 'stupid' thing in the road was and growled lowly. It was GIG and if GIG was here, that meant Dr. Tezla needed them…again. She got out of Ballistik and walked towards him. "What does Dr. Tezla want now?" She spat out angrily. This had gotten everyone's attention and now all of the drivers were circled around GIG waiting for him to respond.

"Dr. Tezla needs you and your teams." GIG replied much to some of the driver's excitement and much too some other's chagrin.

"Qué? Por qué?" (What? Why?) Mika blurted out in confusion. This was the last thing she expected to hear.

"Well what about after the World Race when _we_ needed _him_ to give us more Nitrox?" Kurt retorted angrily. He went to go say something else but…

"Yeah, he wouldn't even talk to us!" Kiya said, arguing Kurt's point. She never did get over that. He said that he needed it for something. Some bull crap about 'research' or something like that.

"Dr. Tezla needed _all _of that fuel for his research." Gig said harshly. Kiya just rolls her eyes. She had heard all of the 'blah blah blah' crap from Dr. Tezla; she didn't need to hear it from GIG too!

"Well _we_ wanted to go through the portals and race through Highway 35 again." Vert said, eyes narrowing. He liked Gig, but he could be _so_ obnoxious sometimes. It got annoying really fast.

"No one can pass through the portals now." Everyone save for Karma and Monkey were shocked at this news. "Gelorum and her drones have the Wheel of Power." Kurt and Vert just looked at each other in shock. This was not good news! The two of them walked away towards their cars as Karma walks over closer to the robot.

"These racing drones, what are they?" She asks, cocking her head to the side.

"Robots built for driving." GIG replied nonchalantly.

"Are they any good?"

"They're robots, their perfect." GIG replied as he floated away.

"Perfect." Karma smirked slyly as she walked away to Chicane.

"Anna, is there something wrong?" Kiya asks, she and Mika are leaning against Ballistik. Anna is inside her fists are clenched around her steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles are turning white. "You don't seem very happy."

"No I am _not_ happy!" Anna sighed, releasing her hands from the steering wheel. "Dr. Tezla never cared about us before and now he needs us again. For what? To get something he can't!"

"I thought you would have loved to have a chance to race on Highway 35 again." Mika replied.

Anna just scoffed. "You heard what GIG said. Gelorum has the Wheel. There's no telling where that crazy man will have us going this time!" She adds panting.

"Well it doesn't matter what his motives are or even what he wants or where we're going. We're the Firebirds and we stick together no matter what." Mika said, looking at Anna and smiling.

"Siempre se pegan entre sí." (Always stick together.) Kiya adds shaking her head. A small smile had come to the edge of her mouth.

Anna smirks at her two friends. "You're right. If we stay together, we can get through this, just like we did during the World Race." She looks at Mika and smiles widely. "Thanks." Mika just nods. No matter what was happening, she could somehow always get Anna to calm down.

"Hey Taro wait up!" Monkey ran up behind Taro. "What's this Wheel of Power business? What does it mean?"

"Trouble." Taro replies simply.

"Well Wylde told me that Tezla pays his drivers millions of dollars." Monkey says in eager anticipation.

"You're coming?" Taro asks in shock as he eyes Monkey. He was the last person he'd expect to take something like this up. "Whatever." He just shrugs his shoulders as he goes to his car. Monkey does the same.

Early the next evening, all nine cars and their drivers were flying across the desert. They were going to Tezla's old headquarters or so they were told. Their cars kicked up plenty of dust and sand as they went racing forward: the TEKU were in front with the Firebirds behind them and the Metal Maniacs bringing up the rear.

"So what's the big deal with this Highway 35?" Karma asked as they drove on. She had been wondering about that ever since Vert had said something about racing on it.

"Well the real Highway 35 was built in another dimension by these weird ancient duded called AcceleRons." Vert eagerly explained.

"That's what ya call real?" Karma asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

"Tezla recruited only the best drivers for the World Race." Kurt replied.

"Yeah it was Anna, Mika, and Kiya, me and Kurt, Taro and—" Vert said excitedly. He was really excited about the chance of racing again even if he wasn't going on Highway 35.

"So who won?" Karma cut in, making Vert glare. She just had to ruin his moment didn't she?

"It doesn't matter who won." The TEKU drivers jerked back in surprise as they heard Anna's voice over their radios. "All Tezla wanted was the Wheel of Power at the end of the track." She growled lowly. Kurt just nodded his head in agreement. Neither one of them liked the man much but the thrill of racing overcame their suspicions of him.

"Yo Taro, Wylde finally caught up!" Monkey yelped as he saw Spine Buster approaching. Wylde had gotten a little lost while driving out of the canyon…okay so he got a lot lost…but anyway, Taro and Monkey had decided that Wylde could find his way out eventually and left him behind.

Wylde swerved from left to right trying to get past Taro and Monkey. Finally he found an opening and sped up enough to past them leaving a cloud of thick dust in his wake.

"Hey this isn't a race!' Monkey called out, coughing and choking on the dust Wylde left behind.

"It's always a race." Wylde sneered as he raced towards the Firebird cars. Anna gasped as her car swerved to the side violently. She had been rammed once again by Wylde. Ugh, when was this guy gonna cut her some slack? Probably never knowing her luck.

Wylde smirked as he then rear ends Kurt's car. Slingshot was bumped forward as Wylde took the lead in this 'race'. Kurt growled, glaring at his brother. "Maniac!" Kurt yelled out angrily as the cars race towards the building.

The racers finally got to Tezla's old headquarters. Wylde smirked smugly as he watched the others stop at the entrance. Anna gasped as she looked around. This was Tezla's old headquarters? It was in ruins!

"Vert." Everybody looked into the shadowy corner of the dilapidated building as they heard the voice. Then the familiar face came out of the shadows. Anna just smirked; she'd recognize Kadeem from anywhere. Vert smiled as he walked up to the man. "It's been a long time." Kadeem said as the two shook hands.

"Good to see you again." Vert replied.

"Is that Tezla?" Monkey asked looking at Kadeem. Anna just shook her head, trying unsuccessfully to suppress her laughter. Mika and Kiya just rolled their eyes. That was as far from Dr. Tezla as you could get! Oh, Monkey, Monkey, Monkey…

"My name is Kadeem." The man replied, raising an eyebrow. "Who are you?" He asked calmly. He wasn't too sure about this guy.

"He's just a freaky little Metal Maniac Kadeem." Kurt spat out gaining Taro and Wylde's attention in a bad way.

"You mean he's the best like me and Taro huh?" Wylde retorted cockily as he looked over at Taro.

"The _real_ drivers are TEKU!" Kurt yelled out. This got all three of the Maniac drivers glaring at him vehemently.

"I wouldn't go _that_ far…" Anna smirked slyly. She expected Kurt to make some kind of snappy comeback but he was too busy glaring at Wylde, Taro, and Monkey to have paid much attention to her snide comment.

"Oh I see how it is." Kadeem chuckled. He knew the rivalries between the three teams. This was gonna be interesting…

"Hey did you get everything straightened out back home?" Vert asked as he turned back to Kadeem, he was anxious to change the subject and prevent an all out brawl from happening.

Kadeem just sighed, "My people will have to wait because this cannot."

"Well if it's that important then it must pay a lot right?" Monkey asked excitedly. He couldn't get his mind off of the money he could be getting for this. Kadeem only shook his head as he laughed at the little man. Monkey looked around in confusion wondering what he was laughing about.

Later that night just as the sun was setting, the three teams and Kadeem—after what seemed like forever driving through the desert—finally made it…well sort of. They were now driving through a massive maze of high stone columns that reminded Anna of the canyons that she was just racing in the other day.

"Tezla has built a new headquarters where no one can find him." Kadeem says as he leads the drivers around a sharp turn. "Stay behind me and match my speed."

"Got it." Anna replied coking her head to the side. 'Match me speed'? She was beginning to get a bad feeling about this.

Kiya gasped loudly as she finally saw what was up ahead. It was a cliff! And if they didn't do something soon, they were gonna crash! "Oh mi dios, él nos va a ejecutar fuera del acantilado!" (Oh my god, he's gonna run us off the cliff!) She yelped, eyes wide with fear. She knew Kadeem from the World Race, but she never knew he was _this_ crazy!

"Just keep driving as fast as you can!" Anna ordered firmly as she too saw the cliff. "Do _not_ stop or slow down!" Suddenly Kadeem drives Krazy8s off the edge of the cliff. Anna grimaced as she had expected him to crash into the side of the rock formation but she gasped as she saw him phase through the seemingly solid rock.

Anna pushed down on the gas and raced off the cliff edge, then Kiya and Mika followed confident that their leader wasn't gonna get them killed.

"Wow, dead end!" Monkey yelped upon seeing the cliff edge. He slammed on the brakes spinning out of the way as Wylde and Taro drove off the cliff. Monkey looked on in amazement and disbelief as he watched his teammates disappear into the rock. "That's impossible…" He mutters incredulously as he watches Vert, Kurt, and Karma drive through the rock as well. What? He had to be seeing things! He just had too…!

The other drivers meanwhile had driven into a rather strange place. All the lights were off so no one could really see what was going on, but they could see the huge spherical track in the middle of the room and the lights coming from all of the computer screens illuminated an area full of car parts and other technology. Some of it was very familiar to the drivers while some of it was very alien.

"Wow, check it out." Vert gasped in awe and he turns around looking at all that he could see.

"Where are we?" Mika wonders as she focuses on the huge track. Was this the racing GIG said Dr. Tezla wanted them to do? She scoffs in confusion.

Then some kind of hologram appeared right in the middle of the track that they saw. The man's head was all that was visible. His grey hair was straight and his eyes covered by a pair of purple glasses. Anna growled; she knew exactly who that was: it was Dr. Tezla.

"Welcome to the AcceleDrome!" Tezla's voice echoed throughout the enormous room. The drivers all look up at him paying close attention to his every word.

"Supongo que las respuestas a mi pregunta." (Guess that answers my question.) Mika mutters under her breath. She looks over at Anna who just jerks her head up towards the hologram. Then both of them looked back up at hologram.

"HELLO?" Outside the AcceleDrome, Monkey had gotten out of his car and was looking around. He was trying to figure out where the others had gone and how to get there without driving off the cliff edge. He had looked down and needless to say, it was a long way down. "Is anybody…?" Finally Monkey realized that there was no other way to get inside. He gulps loudly as he goes back to Rollin' Thunder and prepares himself.

"Gelorum and her drones have the Wheel of Power." Dr. Tezla had begun his long, drawn out lecture. Kiya just sighs. She never did like waiting and lectures. She just shakes her head as she looks back up at Tezla. All of the drivers were looking at him intently. "Before it was taken, I discovered that it's more then just a source of power. It's the key to something much bigger then Highway 35. Countless new tracks in unique new worlds that I call the Racing Realms."

Outside Monkey had gotten back into his car and had backed that up quite a ways. "Here goes." He whispered in an effort to encourage himself yet he fails miserably. He switches gears and slams down on the accelerator Monkey screamed loudly as his car raced off the edge of the cliff and phased through the rock. Monkey's car made it to solid ground and bounced down to where the other cars were parked.

Dr. Tezla continued on. "Reaching the end of Highway 35 was only the first step mapped out for us by the AcceleRons."

"Did I miss anything?" Monkey piped up as he got out of his car. The other drivers just turned and glared at him then they turned back to Dr. Tezla. Monkey just chuckled sheepishly.

"The journey of discovery begins here." The hologram of Tezla's head then turns into the Wheel of Power. Anna immediately notices that there was something different with this wheel: it was stationary; the three rings weren't moving around each other like they were during the World Race.

"So which one is the real Wheel of Power?" Karma asks as she looks at not only the big Wheel of Power, but the miniature sized one that floated above the large, rectangular table at which they were now all sitting at. Kadeem called this the conference room. Huh, fitting name.

"There are both holograms." Kadeem replied.

"Exact three-dimensional recreations." Everyone looks up at the door and sees a woman entering the room. No one took much notice except for Vert. He'd recognize Lani's long black hair and dark green eyes anywhere.

"Lani!" Vert yelps excitedly, "Aw its great to see another Wave Ripper."

"I'm not driving Vert." Lani replies almost begrudgingly. "I've been working for Tezla in the AcceleDrome. He didn't tell me who was coming." She crosses her arms and glares at Taro who just shakes his head and glares back at her.

"While studying the wheel, Dr. Tezla recorded the unique pattern of its wavelengths and vibrations." GIG begun to explain but…

"Yeah, yeah, scrap the lecture GIG, we're here to race." Wylde cut in as he leaned back putting his feet on the table.

GIG just ingnored Wylde and continued on, "The holographic image of resonates with the same emanations of the actual Wheel of Power."

"Is he speaking English?" Monkey gasps; his mind reeling from all of the technological mumbo-jumbo, "He's speaking English isn't he?"

"I don't even think he's talking in Spanish either." Anna mutters just as confused as Monkey and probably everyone else in the room too.

"In a very real sense, the image _is_ the wheel." GIG says. Finally everyone began to understand it a bit more.

"And that means…?" Karma asks as she looks at Lani questioningly.

"Dr. Tezla believes that the Wheel of Power has been opening the Racing realms." Lani replies. She takes a quick glance over at Taro and notices that he and Anna are getting up. It looks as though they're about to leave, but they just walk over to opposite sides of the large glass window that over looks the big hologram and the track that surrounds it.

"Dr. Tezla also believes that Gelorum's racing drones have been entering the realms." GIG says while floating around the room.

"We must reach the end of the next realm before the racing drones." Kadeem says solemnly. He sounded like a man on a mission and that no one could stop him from completing it.

"Why should we?" Kurt growled angrily. He leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed.

Anna turned to face the others. "Yeah last time it was to get him the wheel. Wonder what he wants now?"

Unknown to them both or to anyone else in the room except for Kadeem and Lani, they were all being watched. Someone was watching them for a camera far away so that they wouldn't notice. Suddenly a heavy metal fist slams into the table in front of the camera. The sudden jolt knocked the camera offline. Apparently someone wasn't very happy about what was being said.

"The drones have already accessed several realms." GIG said as he continued to float around the room. Kiya watched him intently, her dark blue eyes eerily following his every move. "Dr. Tezla believes that with each new realm, they become more powerful."

"Whatever's at the end of the racing realms must be even more powerful." Kadeem sighed, inwardly groaning at the possibility of the drones becoming even more powerful then they already were.

"Well if it's that powerful, then it must be worth a lot of money…right?" Monkey stood looking at the others, smiling eagerly. Kadeem just laughed at him once again. Monkey's face fell as he looked around, "Why is he laughing?" Anna just smirked and shook her head. Something told her that money wasn't up for grabs this time.

"Now, more then ever, the best drivers are needed." GIG replied, trying to get them to realize just how serious this was.

"It's moving." Taro and Anna gasps as one as they look out the window at the large hologram. The three rings of the Wheel of Power were moving around one another. And an ear splitting alarm was blaring throughout the entire area. The three lights on the corner wall of the room were all blinking red. This could only mean one thing: a racing realm was opening.

_**-To be continued-**_

**Aysinia: **This seems like the perfect place too stop for now? I know I am so evil aren't I? Heh, you'll have to wait and see what happens in the first realm: The Storm Realm (Reino de el tormenta)


End file.
